Even at the best of times, thunderstorms frightened Ben. But where before he could at least hide under his blanket in the safety of his room, now he was lost in a dense forest, far from home.

He continued searching around, on the verge of panic, looking for some sort of shelter, but he found none. Each time the lightning flashed, he thought he saw some terrifying monster in the shadows it created. In the surrounding sounds, he occasionally heard what to his terrified mind sounded like a snarl or the footsteps of some nightmarish beast. But then he heard something different: a small squeak.

He looked down. Next to his foot was a little gray rat. The rat's gaze was flitting around, with it checking its surroundings before looking back up at him. It jumped and squeaked in alarm when lightning struck, shivering and looking back up at Ben, holding up a forepaw toward him.

He hesitated, then reached out a finger toward the rat. He didn't know how, but he had a feeling that this rat wanted to help him, somehow. The rat took his finger in its forepaws, gently pulling his finger back to a small hole in the ground, starting to enter the hole itself.

Once more, he didn't know how he knew, but although the hole looked way too small, somehow he knew he would fit. He slowly moved his hands into the hole, watching them shrink down and turn pink, his fingernails turning to small claws as his hands became rodent forepaws.

A part of him felt like he should be afraid of this, but he wasn't. He couldn't help but trust the little rat. Besides, he was too busy being scared of the thunderstorm outside.

As he entered further inside, his mouth and nose pushed forward to a gray-furred muzzle with a pink little nose at the end and whiskers on the sides. Meanwhile, his arms were becoming furry forelegs.

The lightning boomed again, causing him to squeak in fright and pick up the pace. He found his shirt slipping off as he continued to shrink down, his torso overtaken by gray fur. His pants were soon to follow as his hind legs became fuzzy and a long, pink furless tail began to grow, but he paid it no mind.

Last to change were his feet, which also became pink and gained little claws as they transformed into little rat hind paws, leaving his socks and shoes behind. With that, he was now fully inside the rat's little underground shelter.

The two little rats huddled up together, pulling a little blanket made from a scrap of cloth over themselves. The thunder was scary, but it wasn't nearly so bad now. The new rat not only had shelter, but he had someone there for him, to help him feel better.